Anderson Cooper, host of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, was one of 15 media personalities, journalists, and columnists who showed up on PEOPLE's 2017 Sexiest Newsmen list.

Cooper doesn't see what others see:

I see myself as when you lift a rock and see a salamander who has not seen the light of day — that’s how I view myself. I always think I look like a pale E.T. with a weird-shaped head. You know how E.T. has a weird-shaped head and his eyes kind of bug out? That’s me.

And about the signature silver hair, he had this to say:

My silver hair is not something I’m all that thrilled about, but I know others seem to like it.